Everhour keeps Basecamp project time tied to budgets, rates, capacity, and alerts for agency client work.
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Alejandro Luna0:00:00Kai Nani0:00:00Kai Nani0:00:00Click!
Dave Jung0:00:00Alejandro Luna0:00:00Dave JungThe calculator gives you the number — Everhour takes it from there.
One click and you're timing. Start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Everhour.
Set a budget, assign rates, and get alerted before you're over.
Measurement
Track your budget through time or costs
Every report you need — configured your way, always up to date.
Tracked hours flow straight into a polished invoice — no copy-paste, no manual math.
Use this page when an agency needs a fast budget read on client work organized in Basecamp. The practical job is to tie each to-do list or to-do to a budgeted project, log the actual time against that work, and see whether the remaining hours or money still matches the plan before the next client update.
For agency work, the budget question usually starts with the contract shape. A retainer needs a recurring limit, a fixed-fee project needs a cap tied to scope, and a time-and-materials engagement needs rates that turn logged time into cost or billable amount. The report should show planned, actual, and remaining budget without making a project manager rebuild totals in a spreadsheet.
Start with the Basecamp project as the budget container. Keep client work organized by project, list, and to-do, then set the budget target as hours or money. For money budgets, assign the rate model that matches the agreement: hourly project rate, member rate, fixed fee, non-billable work, or custom task rates for specific time-and-materials tasks.
A useful budget view separates three numbers: planned, actual, and remaining. Planned comes from the budget or estimate, actual comes from approved or review-ready time entries, and remaining shows the room left before the team needs a scope, staffing, or client decision. Cost rates show internal labor cost; billable rates show the amount charged to the client.
Agency overruns hide when teams review totals only at month end. Set alert thresholds before the project starts, then choose percentages that match the project risk. An admin can use 50% for a short discovery phase when the first warning must leave room for a scope decision, or 80% for a larger retainer when the team needs a later checkpoint. Custom thresholds cover projects with a different review cadence.
Review overruns by work type instead of total hours alone. A client strategy list, production to-dos, and revision tasks can all consume budget differently. The useful report keeps the Basecamp project, to-do, list, task ID, and task status available so an account lead can see whether the overrun came from new scope, estimate misses, or rate changes.
A one-off budget check is enough when the agency needs a quick status read before a meeting. Enter the current plan, collect the latest logged time, review the remaining budget, and send the update. That process works for a small project with one decision-maker and a short time window.
Recurring client work needs a managed workflow. Everhour can embed time tracking controls in Basecamp through the browser extension, carry projects, lists, and to-dos into reports, compare planned and actual work, and send budget emails at admin-set thresholds. Reviewed time then feeds budget, cost, and billing views without rebuilding the same status report every week.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
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G2
Summer 2026
Best Ease Of Use
Capterra
Summer 2026
Rated in the top time trackers across G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius — with consistent praise for ease of use, integrations, and support.
Start with the Basecamp project as the client budget container, then use lists and to-dos for scope detail. Agencies should avoid treating every to-do as its own budget object. Per-to-do detail works best through estimates, logged time, task status, and reported cost, while the budget target stays at the project or client level.
A weekly review should show planned hours or fee, actual logged time, internal cost, billable amount, remaining budget, and the tasks pushing variance. Group the view by Basecamp project, list, to-do, and person when the lead needs to explain the number to the client or adjust staffing before the budget is gone.
Cost is understated when billable rates stand in for internal cost rates, non-billable work disappears from the review, or late manual entries miss the reporting period. Keep cost rates separate from client-facing rates, include non-billable time in operational review, and lock reviewed periods only after the team has corrected missing entries.
An admin should set the first alert at the point where a real decision is still possible. Use an early threshold for discovery, risky scope, or a short budget window; use a later threshold for stable retainers with predictable work. Custom percentages keep the warning tied to the agency's review cadence.
Capture time from the project context, on the to-do that represents the work. Browser-based embedded controls keep the entry tied to the Basecamp project, list, to-do, task ID, and task status. The embedded controls require the browser extension, so teams using Basecamp native apps need a separate entry path.
Everhour Resource Planning shows assignments on visual timelines with member and project views, weekly capacity, availability gaps, and scheduled time off. Project leads compare planned capacity with actual tracked time on Basecamp projects before adding work, so the budget review reflects hours consumed and remaining team capacity.
Everhour can set Basecamp projects as hourly rate, fixed fee, or non-billable, then send automatic budget emails at 50%, 80%, or a custom threshold chosen by an admin. The same setup supports non-billable tasks and custom task rates, so alert totals follow the project billing rules.
Use Everhour Resource Planning to compare planned capacity with actual tracked time on Basecamp projects, account for availability gaps and time off, and keep agency budget decisions tied to real workload.
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